Thursday, 26 November 2009

Pants will now enter their 11th year after being patched with Liberty Art Print. This one has little houses and boats on. Liberty has a new range of 'Art' fabrics including designs by Greyson Perry.£19.99 per meter. Pants BHS 1999.

Louise bought a half -washed Norwegian fleece on the Internet. I didn't card it and spun it lumpy. Washed and felted it looked very Viking, so I dyed some with Kool Aid for blood and fire.

When the Vikings moved to Iceland, it was risky to take precious metals as currency, so they traded in hand spun yarn. They spun stock and sailed down to Scotland to trade it. I racked my brain for a viking name for the yarn, and remembered my favourite Viking of all time is Moondog, who lived on the streets of New York City and made music. He sold extraordinary rhythms and poems on bits of paper, and busked timeless tunes, which are all now avaliable at good record shops.

Our new sycamore table with two benches has vastly improved seated activities at Prick Your Finger. Me and my Dad made them from a tree which blew down about 10 years ago. Dad had it planked up, and it has been seasoning in his shed ever since.

It's my first woodwork project where the wood didn't come from a skip or street corner. Dad has an electric planing machine and a circular saw, which made things easier, faster and yes, straighter!

The table is two dinner plates wide and fixed with pegs, so we can dismantle it for parties. I carved the little finger marks in homage to Stanley Davis.

I had a hunch that we would work more productively if we ate soup, altogether, in rows on benches. We have found chicken stock most beneficial to our health, and the conversations are much more enlightened.

Our classes are also held around this beautiful piece of wood, and they are £30/ 2hrs for beginners and £40/2hrs for a private lesson. Much as we'd like to offer you a bowl of soup, it's probably best if we don't.